Bruce Power and the province continue to haggle over multi-million-dollar penalties for Bruce's failure to restart two reactors on time

Bruce Power and the province are still haggling over multi-million-dollar penalties for the company’s failure to re-start two reactors on time in 2012.

And an opposition MPP wants to know more about the dispute.

Bruce Power has claimed that factors beyond its control caused it to miss a July 1, 2012 deadline for re-starting two mothballed reactors at the Bruce A station.

The reactors re-started months behind schedule.

A penalty clause could have slashed the price Bruce Power received for output from its two operating reactors to about 2 cents a kilowatt hour, from 6.8 cents.

That could have cost Bruce millions of dollars a month in lost revenue. Or on the flip side, it could have saved Ontario ratepayers millions.

The Ontario Power Authority says there is some substance to Bruce Power’s claims that the late start was caused by factors it couldn’t control.

But the OPA says it wants to know if other factors, which the company could have controlled, also contributed to the delay.

It hired experts to analyze what happened.

New Democrat MPP Peter Tabuns told the Legislature Wednesday that their reports should be released.

“Last year the government said they had independent reports to back their decision,” said Tabuns (Toronto-Danforth).

“For over a year, the government and Bruce power have refused to share details,” he said.

“The government passed up an opportunity to get a half a billion dollars back from a private power company. Why can't we see the details that justify that decision?”

Energy minister Bob Chiarelli, who was appointed after the decision was made, said he’d look into it and offered to meet Tabuns to discuss the matter.

Tabuns said in an interview that he has sent freedom of information requests asking for the independent reports, but all have been denied.

“We want to see why the OPA didn’t enforce the contract,” he said.

Bruce Power leases the Bruce nuclear station from Ontario Power Generation.

It says it inherited some faulty non-nuclear equipment at the station, but had no way of knowing when it took over the site that it was flawed.

The OPA said last fall that Bruce Power’s complaint has some basis.

“Two technical experts confirmed the error and concluded it existed prior to Bruce Power acquiring the equipment, and was therefore beyond the control of Bruce Power and prevented the company from meeting its July 1 in-service date,” the OPA said.

But the OPA said it is still investigating whether other factors, which were within Bruce Power’s control, also contributed to the delays.

“Bruce Power will not be paid for any such delays, as per Bruce Power’s contract,” it said.

Talks to determine what Bruce could and couldn’t control are continuing, an OPA official said Wednesday.

Bruce Power also issued a statement saying in part that “the matter is still being discussed with the OPA through the process specified in the contract.”

With the delicate talks continuing, no one was offering yesterday to release any documents.

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